Wall Street protesters: We're in for the long haul

[Ed Anger]

I'll never work in a restaurant ever again. Fuck that shit. Frisch's Big Boy can keep their dish washing positions.

I'll go back to repoing cars and smuggling smokes.

[Neil]

Lech Walesa is flying to NYC to support the occupy wall street movement.

I wonder if he'll be surprised when nobody knows or cares who the fuck he is?

I think he is one of the great heroes of the 20th century, but unfortunately you are right on this. Nonviolent leaders like Gandhi, Mandela, and King get all the press for peacefully fighting imperialism and racism, but anticommunism is ignored.

The Poles aren't very sympathetic.

[alfred russel]

Very true.  I think it has to do with his peculiar situation.  Many leftists were luke warm on fight the Soviets and many right winners don't want to give so much credit to a Union guy.  That the type of person who is demonized by conservatives in this country dealt so grievous a blow to Communism is a bit of an embarrassment.

I don't think it's that political to be honest.  I think his campaign wasn't televised and in English and there's not been a film about him yet.  I imagine Mandela would only be known to a few people if he spent his time speaking Xhosa.

I'd would attribute it mostly to the fact that racism and the aftermath of imperialism still are important issues today, while resistance to communist authorities is not. It is also a difficult story to tell in clear good guy/bad guy terms, because by the time Walesa shows up on the scene, the really bad guys were in the past (which is of course why he was able to have success).

[Sheilbh]

I'd would attribute it mostly to the fact that racism and the aftermath of imperialism still are important issues today, while resistance to communist authorities is not. It is also a difficult story to tell in clear good guy/bad guy terms, because by the time Walesa shows up on the scene, the really bad guys were in the past (which is of course why he was able to have success).

Fair points.  In addition I think Mandela certainly was a fight people in this country felt connected to.  Whether through boycotting South African goods, pushing for the ban on sporting fixtures or the absurd like Paul Boateng's speech on winning election ('Brent South today, Soweto tomorrow!').  Similarly in the US with Martin Luther King.  So in that terribly Western, self-involved way what happened here, or among white northern liberals became part of the story.  In contrast, people in the West could only really look on at Solidarnosc, or Vaclav Havel's underground theatre, with a distant admiration and respect. 

I think something similar's happening with the Arab revolutions and also with the Free Theatre of Minsk.

[dps]

Hey, MIM, you remember when you said there was no shame in working at a restaurant?  Apparently there is and no one ever forgets.

[/quote]

There isn't, but constantly getting fired from one is a different stroy.

[Ideologue]

Hey, MIM, you remember when you said there was no shame in working at a restaurant?  Apparently there is and no one ever forgets.

There isn't, but constantly getting fired from one is a different stroy.
[/quote]

Okay, maybe we're talking about someone you know.  I've never been fired from a job in my life.

[garbon]

I think something similar's happening with the Arab revolutions and also with the Free Theatre of Minsk.

I'd say with the arab revolutions that many people aren't convinced that they will actually result in something positive.

[Sheilbh]

I'd say with the arab revolutions that many people aren't convinced that they will actually result in something positive.

Yeah that's a big worry but I've never met anyone who has anything but admiration for the activists of Tahrir Square, or the revolutionaries in Tunisia, Syria or Libya.

[Neil]

I'd say with the arab revolutions that many people aren't convinced that they will actually result in something positive.

Yeah that's a big worry but I've never met anyone who has anything but admiration for the activists of Tahrir Square, or the revolutionaries in Tunisia, Syria or Libya.

You've met me.

[Zanza]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/150068/Chinese-Struggling-Less-Americans-Afford-Basics.aspx

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Gallup surveys in China and the U.S. reveal Chinese are struggling less than Americans to put food on their tables. Six percent of Chinese in 2011 say there have been times in the past 12 months when they did not have enough money to buy food that they or their family needed, down significantly from 16% in 2008. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans saying they did not have money for food in the previous 12 months more than doubled from 9% in 2008 to 19% in 2011.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Eat everything on your plate! Don't you know there are starving kids in Detroit who would love to have that food?

[Neil]

Not enough money for food?  Wow, the US is crazy poor.

[DGuller]

To be fair, an average American needs a somewhat larger amount of food than an average Chinese.

[Zoupa]

I wouldn't use "need".

[Neil]

I wouldn't use "need".

Need is close enough.  A 200-pound American needs more food than a 100-pound Chinaman.